SHIELDOSE is a model for space-shielding radiation dose calculations. It determines the absorbed dose as a function of depth in aluminum shielding material of spacecraft, given the electron and proton fluences encountered in orbit. It makes use of precalculated, mono-energetic depth-dose data for an isotropic, broad-beam fluence of radiation incident on uniform aluminum plane media. These precalculated values are the result of detailed electron and electron-bremsstrahlung Monte Carlo calculations. The SHIELDOSE model has been developed by NASA.

SHIELDOSE is a program for space-shielding radiation dose calculations. It determines the absorbed dose as a function of depth in aluminum shielding material of spacecraft, given the electron and proton fluences encountered in orbit. The code makes use of precalculated, mono-energetic depth-dose data for an isotropic, broad-beam fluence of radiation incident on uniform aluminum plane media. These precalculated values are the result of detailed electron and electron-bremsstrahlung Monte Carlo calculations. The present version of SHIELDOSE calculates, for arbitrary proton and electron incident spectra, the dose absorbed in small volumes of the detector materials Al, H₂O (tissue-equivalent detector), Si, and SiO₂, in the following aluminum shield geometries: (1) in a semi-infinite plane medium, as a function of depth; (2) at the transmission surface of a plane slab, as a function of slab thickness; and (3) at the center of a solid sphere, as a function of sphere radius.

At launch the program will request the name of the input file. It is obligatory to name input file with INP extension, for example AP8.INP. The input file must contain all of required information. Information is the set of records delimited by spaces of carriage return symbols.

The first two records are names of the two output files. It's obligatory to give OUT and ARR extension to these files. Example:
AP8.OUT
AP8.ARR

Next the index of the detector type is specified, for example '1'.

1. AL DETECTOR
2. GRAPHITE DETECTOR
3. SI DETECTOR
4. AIR DETECTOR
5. BONE DETECTOR
6. CALCIUM FLUORIDE DETECTOR
7. GALLIUM ARSENIDE DETECTOR
8. LITHIUM FLUORIDE DETECTOR
9. SILICON DIOXIDE DETECTOR
10. TISSUE DETECTOR
11. WATER DETECTOR

The next number indicates the nuclear interaction account, for example 1:

1. NO NUCLEAR ATTENUATION FOR PROTONS IN AL.
2. NUCLEAR ATTENUATION, LOCAL CHARGED-SECONDARY ENERGY DEPOSITION.
3. NUCLEAR ATTENUATION, LOCAL CHARGED-SECONDARY ENERGY DEPOSITION, AND APPROX EXPONENTIAL DISTRIBUTION OF NEUTRON DOSE.

The next number indicates shielding depth, for example '17'.After that comes the index of the shielding depth unit:

1. Mils
2. g/cm²
3. mm

The next set of records are the shieldings in the same units as in the previous point.

The next pair of numbers is about solar protons, the min and max energy of solar protons spectrum, default values are 0.1 and 10000 MeV.

The next pair of numbers is about trapped protons, the min and max energy of trapped protons spectrum, default values are 0.1 and 10000 MeV.

The next number is the number of spectrum points which divides spectrum for integration. Default value is 1001.

The next pair of numbers is about trapped electrons, the min and max energy of trapped electrons spectrum, default values are 0.05 and 10 MeV and number of spectrum points. Default value is 1001.

The next 72-symbol line can contain arbitrary text information for example the information about falling particles and detector type.

The next number is the number of points in falling spectrum of solar protons, trapped protons and trapped electrons.After that the unit for conversation of flux. If your flux is in 1/(cm² s keV), this unit is 1000. If your flux is 1/(cm² s MeV), this unit is 1. Source files says: "EUNIT IS CONVERSION FACTOR FROM /ENERGY TO /MEV, E.G., EUNIT = 1000 IF FLUX IS /KEV.".

The next number is time of dose accumulation in seconds. Default value is 3.15360E+07 - year; you can indicate 86400 - one day.

The next numbers are spectra. If the spectrum of solar protons contans non-zero points the energies in MeV are shown. After that the fluxes are shown. After that the trapped proton spectrum and trapped electron spectrum in the condition of non-zero points number of spectrum.

After the program exits the OUT file will be created.